Objective Approach for Titration of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using Daytime Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Titration Based on Respiratory Movement Regularity.

: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is used to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and has proven clinical efficacy for this condition. However, the objective method to determine the appropriate CPAP level for treatment is still unclear. Patients with OSA typically exhibit irregular respiratory efforts due to obstruction or narrowing of the upper airway during sleep.

Scalable Moment Propagation and Analysis of Variational Distributions for Practical Bayesian Deep Learning.

Bayesian deep learning is one of the key frameworks employed in handling predictive uncertainty. Variational inference (VI), an extensively used inference method, derives the predictive distributions by Monte Carlo (MC) sampling. The drawback of MC sampling is its extremely high computational cost compared to that of ordinary deep learning.

Assessing Autonomic Nervous System Function by Pulse Rate Variability in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is measured to analyze autonomic nervous system function in humans, and pulse rate variability (PRV) assessed using the photoplethysmography method with a pulse oximeter has been proposed as a surrogate for HRV. To examine whether PRV is compatible with HRV in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we simultaneously measured HRV with an electrocardiogram and PRV with a pulse oximeter in patients with COPD, and compared low-frequency and high-frequency components computed from HRV and PRV as indicators of autonomic nervous system function. In a Bland-Altman analysis, the low-frequency component computed from HRV exhibited good consistency with that computed from PRV.

Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators Do Not Inhibit the Synthesis of Inflammatory Mediators Induced by Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Synovial Fibroblasts.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, a proinflammatory cytokine, is involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The omega-3 unsaturated fatty acid-derived metabolites resolvin (Rv) D1, RvE1, and maresin-1 (MaR1) have been reported as anti-inflammatory lipid mediators and are known as specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs). In this study, we aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of SPMs on TNF-α-induced responses in synovial fibroblasts.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients on Home Oxygen Therapy with Telemonitoring.

Home oxygen therapy (HOT) is an important treatment for patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Recently, telemonitoring of HOT has been become available. In the present study, we examined whether telemonitoring of HOT could improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Functional characteristics of a renal H/lipophilic cation antiport system in porcine LLC-PK cells and rats.

We have recently found an H/quinidine (a lipophilic cation, QND) antiport system in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the H/lipophilic cation antiport system is expressed in porcine LLC-PK cells. That is, we investigated uptake and/or efflux of QND and another cation, bisoprolol, in LLC-PK cells.